Bee 'Flabbergasted' by Klein's Actions

The Sacramento Bee has not been pleased with Robert Klein virtually since he became chairman of the $3 billion California stem cell agency more than three years ago.

Earlier this week, the newspaper fired off another editorial lambasting Klein, this time accusing of him of misusing his office.

The case in point involves Klein's personal stem cell lobbying group, Americans for Cures, which recently publicly excoriated an offending state legislator in a posting on a widely read, national political blog.

The Bee wrote,

"Through his connections with the governor and other state leaders, Klein effectively directs who is appointed to the institute's 29-member oversight board, which includes university deans dependent on research funds that Klein controls.

"That should be enough power for any one public official. But not for Klein.

"Up until last week, Klein also served as president of Americans for Cures, an advocacy group that works out of offices he owns in Palo Alto. That linkage provides Klein with a nongovernmental agent with which to go after his opponents and further his institutional power."

The Bee continued:

"Government officials shouldn't be affiliated with special interest groups that lobby on issues that affect their agencies. After three years, it remains flabbergasting that Klein doesn't recognize that conflict and the injury it causes to the state's stem cell program. Even more curious is why the institute's 'oversight' board continues to condone it."

The Bee's editorial was written before the disclosure that Klein plans to spend 88 days traveling out of state this fiscal year at taxpayer expense. We are certain that the newspaper would have been even more exercised if that had been known at the time the editorial was written.

As far as Klein's reported resignation as president of Americans for Cures, so far no official announcement has been forthcoming. One report had it that the resignation would be announced after he told Sen. Sheila Kuehl, the object of his group's ire, about it. But her office said that Klein did not mention resigning in their conversation following the offending Internet post.

The delay in announcing his resignation may indicate that the earlier resignation reports amounted to something of a trial balloon effort by Klein in which Klein expected supporters to rally around him. Meanwhile, he is still listed as president on the Americans for Cures website.

Klein Resigns as Head of Stem Cell Lobbying Group

In the wake of a flap over a personal attack on a leading California lawmaker, Robert Klein, chairman of the California stem cell agency, has resigned as president of the stem cell lobbying group that posted the offending item on the Internet.

John M. Simpson, stem cell project director for Consumer Watchdog of Santa Monica, Ca., today reported Klein's resignation on the Watchdog group's blog. Klein's action came after Simpson called for Klein (see photo) to resign either as president of Americans for Cures, Klein's lobbying group, or as chairman of the $3 billion state agency.

Simpson wrote,

"Don Gibbons, communications director for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, called this afternoon to tell me that Klein had stepped down from Americans for Cures. His phone call came after my posting the view today that holding both the state position and the advocacy position was untenable and the situation was a train wreck waiting to happen.

"In fact, Gibbons said, Klein quit the presidency on Friday, but didn't issue any public statement about it until he personally told Sen. Kuehl what he had done."

Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, is the lead author of legislation aimed at ensuring affordable access to any therapies developed as the result of CIRM-financed research.

Kuehl's office told the California Stem Cell Report that the senator and Klein were scheduled to talk on Tuesday. Americans for Cures has not responded to inquiries concerning Klein's resignation.

Coming Stem Cell Train Wreck?

The combination of Robert Klein as head of a state agency giving away $3 billion for stem cell research and presiding as well over a personal, stem cell lobbying group is a "train wreck waiting to happen," according to the Consumer Watchdog group.

John M. Simpson, stem cell project director for the Santa Monica, Ca., organization, said he welcomed Klein's apology for the "unseemly" attack on state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, lead author of legislation opposed by both the stem cell agency and Klein's group.

Simpson wrote on his organization's blog:

"The apologies are welcome.  However, so long as Klein remains chairman of the state stem cell agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and president of the advocacy group, Americans for Cures, the situation remains a train wreck waiting to happen."

Simpson continued:

"Insisting on wearing both hats in untenable.  It damages the credibility of both CIRM and Americans for Cures. Klein needs to realize his dual roles seriously undermine the dedicated staff of both organizations."

Patient Advocate Reed Praises Kuehl, Says Sometimes People Go Too Far

Patient advocate Don Reed, who has probably attended more meetings of the California stem cell agency than any of its directors or even its staffers, reacted this weekend to the blistering attack on the author of legislation he fervently opposes.

Reed (see photo) is vice president of Americans for Cures, which fired off the personal comments on the national and influential political blog, Daily Kos. While Reed said that he is proud of the group, he added:

"Sometimes in the heat of battle, people go too far with hurtful words."

Here is the text of what he sent the California Stem Cell Report.

"A negatively slanted editorial on Senate Bill 1565 (Kuehl, Runner) was recently printed in the weblog Daily Kos. It was written by some of the staff at Americans for Cures, a group with which I am proud to be associated. They are my friends and co-workers.

"But I want it clearly understood I had no part in the writing of that particular article.

"I have not yet been able to read the entire piece, just bits and pieces of it. But as the co-directors of our group have publicly apologized for it, apparently it went over the edge. Sometimes in the heat of battle, people go too far with hurtful words. I have stuck my own foot in my mouth too many times to criticize anyone.

"I do strongly oppose SB 1565. Anyone wanting my opinions need only go to my website, www.stemcellbattles.com, or just Google me. My writing is signed, either with my name, Don C. Reed, or as Diverdonreed, for blogs which require a pseudonym.

"But my differences with Senator Sheila Kuehl are professional, not personal. She has earned the right to be treated with affection and respect.

"Ironically, last week I had a very positive conversation with Senator Sheila Kuehl’s legislative aides, Lark Park and Peter Hansel. We argued about the bill, of course. To me the bill is a serious mistake: a threat to the California stem cell program.

"I had two reasons for the visit.

"One reason was of course to see if there were any loopholes possible, especially in the price-control part of the bill. Ms. Park and Peter Hansel said the Senator had offered to make a change. The stem cell board may or may not agree that the answer is enough to gain their support, but it was a genuine attempt, a serious proposal. (Other serious objections remain, and I am still in opposition to the bill.)

"But there was a second reason for the visit, a personal one, something I had hoped to tell the Senator herself, but that was a long shot at budget crisis time.The Senator is “termed out”, that California mistake of a law that says lobbyists may remain in Sacramento forever, but the people’s representatives can only stay a while.

"But her efforts on behalf of all Californians will live on after her term in office. It is to be hoped she will continue her work to bring decent and affordable healthcare to everyone, perhaps on a national or international level. I would love to see her be U.N. Ambassador for international health programs, or a similar position.

"Sheila Kuehl is an exemplary human being. She makes the world a brighter place."

(After Reed sent us this item, we sent him a copy of the piece on Daily Kos, which has removed the item. If you would like to receive a copy of it, please email a request to us at djensen@californiastemcellreport.com)

Stem Cell Affordability Legislation Changed to Meet CIRM Objections

The California lawmakers behind legislation to ensure affordable access to taxpayer-financed stem cell therapies moved last week to ease the concerns of the state's $3 billion stem cell research agency.

The changes were made prior to a scathing, national Internet attack on the bill's lead author by the private lobbying group run by Robert Klein, who also serves as chairman of the state stem cell agency. One consumer advocate has called for Klein's resignation in the wake of the assault by Americans for Cures, the Klein organization. The group used such terms as "ignorant," "dumb" and "craven" in connection with Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica.

Late Friday, Klein's group apologized. Klein told the California Stem Cell Report he was unaware of the Internet attack by his group and said he had "great personal respect" for Kuehl. Our understanding is that he intends to personally apologize to Kuehl.

CIRM last month officially opposed Kuehl's bill, SB 1565, on the grounds that it would discourage biotech firms from developing therapies and limit the agency's flexibility to negotiate affordability issues, among other things.

In response, Sens. Kuehl and George Runner, R-Antelope Valley, made changes that appear to go a long ways in dealing with the objections. But in a letter Thursday to Kuehl, Klein expressed the agency's continued opposition. The letter, dated the same day as the Internet attack on Kuehl, was also signed by CIRM President Alan Trounson and Ed Penhoet, vice chairman of the CIRM board of directors.

Below are key sections of the latest amendments to the measure, as provided by Kuehl's office. The actual bill, however, will not be available online via the Legislature’s website until Tuesday. The measure comes up for a hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. The full text of CIRM's letter to Kuehl follows in a separate item.

Here are the amendments in SB 1565.

"Any plan subject to subdivision (a) shall include a requirement that each grantee and any licensee of the grantee that sells drugs that are, in whole or in part, the result of research funded by CIRM shall provide those drugs to publicly funded programs in California at one of the three benchmark prices in the California Discount Prescription Drug Program."

"Notwithstanding subdivision (c), the ICOC may waive the requirement that grantees and licensees of the grantee provide drugs that are, in whole or in part, the result of research funded by CIRM at one of the three benchmark prices in the California Discount Prescription Drug Program (Division 112 (commencing with Section 130500)), as it exists on January 1, 2008, only when the following conditions are met:
"(1) Either of the following conditions is met:
"(A) The drug shall be used for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, or prevention of a rare disease or condition, as recognized by the federal Food and Drug Administration under Section 360bb of Title 21 of the United States Code, by individuals who would not otherwise have access to the drug through private insurance or public programs, the number of individuals who will have increased access to the drug represent a significant proportion of the individuals in California who have that rare disease or condition, and the ICOC has made a determination that, in the absence of the waiver, development of the drug will be impeded.
"(B) The grantee commits, in writing, to provide expanded access to a drug under its access plan to a class of patients who would not otherwise receive access to the drug, including working uninsured individuals who do not qualify for any public program or private health plan or policy that provides coverage of the drug, and the ICOC has made a determination, before granting a waiver and based on the number of individuals who will have access to the drug and the likely costs of the drug, that the waiver will provide significant benefits that equal or exceed the benefits that would otherwise accrue to the state through the pricing requirements set forth in subdivision (c).
"(2) The ICOC has conducted a public hearing prior to adopting any waiver pursuant to this subdivision. The ICOC shall provide findings and declarations and documentation to the Legislature substantiating the need for, and benefits of, a waiver adopted pursuant to this subdivision at least 30 days prior to the public hearing and shall post these documents on its Internet Web site at the time of submission to the Legislature and provide notice to the public that these documents have been posted."

California Stem Cell Chief Says He Was Unaware of Personal Attack on Lawmaker

Robert Klein, chairman of the $3 billion California stem cell agency, today said he was "completely unaware" of the personal attack on a California state lawmaker by his lobbying group, Americans for Cures.

Klein, who is president of Americans for Cures, said he had "great personal respect" for Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, the object of the attack. Kuehl, a respected California lawmaker and chair of the state Senate Health Committee, drew the ire of Americans for Cures because of her legislation aimed at ensuring affordable access to taxpayer-financed stem cell therapies.

In a statement to the California Stem Cell Report, Klein praised Kuehl's "intellectual strength" and leadership. Here is the text of what Klein sent the California Stem Cell Report:

"Dear David,

"Theoretically, I have been on vacation since Tuesday morning, July 8th, but I gave up my vacation last night and came back to CIRM to deal with misinformation regarding my personal position on SB 1565. As I stated at the Controller’s financial oversight committee meeting on Monday, July 7th, I have great personal respect for Senator Kuehl, including most recently her leadership on the effort to create universal healthcare coverage. On Monday, I made it clear that I have deep respect for her intellectual strength in the healthcare area, and that the ICOC’s position is a substantive policy disagreement. The ICOC has taken the position that the complexity of the stem cell therapy area may not permit simple pricing formulas and the agency needs discretion in adapting to the 70 areas of possible stem cell therapies for chronic disease and injury. I also emphasized on Monday that the ICOC is committed to the same goals as Senator Kuehl in obtaining the lowest possible price for state and local government public providers in California.

"The language in the bill addressing embryonic stem cell research, I think, is being interpreted very differently by the ICOC and Senator Kuehl. We are very concerned about the message this type of an amendment would send within California and nationally, and we do not believe that the message would be consistent with the best scientific and medical knowledge at this time.

"As always, I am happy to discuss this with you further. I wanted to make sure you knew right away that I was completely unaware of the blog entry. I have requested that the Daily Kos entry associated with Americans for Cures be deleted from the site because it did not receive clearance from senior members of the organization, and it did not properly reflect the organization’s views on Senator Kuehl.

"Bob Klein"

Consumer Watchdog: Despite Apology, Klein Still Should Still Resign

The Consumer Watchdog group today said it is not withdrawing its call for the resignation of Robert Klein as chairman of California's $3 billion stem cell agency, despite an apology from his lobbying group for its personal attack on a Democratic state legislator.

John M. Simpson, stem cell project director of Consumer Watchdog of Santa Monica, Ca., said the co-executive directors of Klein's lobbying organization, Americans for Cures, "are taking the blame" for the posting on an influential national political blog, Daily Kos. Simpson said on his group's blog,

"What this incident underscores is how inappropriate it is for Klein to hold  positions as chairman of the California stem cell agency and president of a stem cell advocacy group simultaneously.  If he wants to be an advocate -- and he can indeed be effective as the passage of Proposition 71 demonstrates -- he must step down from his position as chairman of the stem cell board.

"The welcomed staff apology does not change the fundamental confict Klein faces by insisting on holding both positions."

Klein's Lobbying Group Apologizes for Blistering Attack on Kuehl

The lobbying group controlled by Robert Klein, chairman of the California stem cell agency, today apologized to state Sen. Sheila Kuehl for the personal attack on her that it published on the influential national political blog, the Daily Kos.

The co-executive directors of Americans for Cures, Amy Daly and Constance McKee, said the language in the item, which included such terms as "dumb," "craven" and "ignorant," was inappropriate. Daly said the item had been removed from the Daily Kos.

Here is the text of their apology, which they asked the California Stem Cell Report to run.

"To all who have read the Americans for Cures diary posted on DailyKos regarding SB 1565:

"We write to offer a formal apology to Senator Kuehl and her supporters. This posting did not go through our normal review clearances. The choice of language was inappropriate and did not reflect the respect that senior members of the organization have for Senator Kuehl.

"We have always appreciated her efforts and were disappointed that her single payer plan was not implemented. She has historically been a great health care advocate for the people of California. This is why it has been so frustrating to us that she is working with Senator Runner – who is strongly anti-embryonic stem cell research – to implement a bill that could frustrate efforts to get stem cell therapies to patients.

"We were wrong in our characterization of her. We have been working hard to educate everyone about the perils of this bill. No one is questioning it precisely because Senator Kuehl has been such an effective advocate. Our frustrations prevented us from using good judgment in our post, and we apologize profusely for our insensitive and unwarranted remarks.

"It should be noted that Bob Klein was completely unaware of our actions on this. We have not spoken to him or met with him in well over two weeks. I’m certain that he is as disappointed in our judgment as you, and we, are.

"Please forgive us and please put the blame for this where it belongs – on Americans for Cures Foundation staff involved in this individual posting – not on Bob Klein. Americans for Cures Foundation has learned from this experience and will re-institute the tight control it has historically had over its postings.

"Sincerely,

"Amy Daly & Constance McKee"

Consumer Watchdog Says Klein Should Resign Because of Personal Attack on Lawmaker

The Consumer Watchdog organization today called for the resignation of Robert Klein as chairman of the $3 billion California stem cell agency after his private lobbying group called a respected state senator "dumb" and "craven."

John M. Simpson, stem cell project director for Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit Santa Monica, Ca., organization, said the attack was an inappropriate "over-the-top, hysterical call to battle."

Writing on the group's blog, Simpson referred to the Internet posting Thursday by Americans for Cures, Klein's stem cell lobbying group, on the Daily Kos, a widely read and influential political blog.

Americans for Cures targeted Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, and her legislation – SB 1565 – which is designed to ensure affordable access to any therapies that result from taxpayer-financed stem therapies. Simpson wrote:

"One can oppose the bill without launching personal attacks and suggesting the sky is falling. For the most part, the board members and agency's staff have followed that policy. But Klein insists on wearing two hats: ICOC(CIRM's board of directors) chairman and president of his advocacy group.

"The positions are incompatible. Since Klein refuses to give up the advocacy role, he must step down from his public position as head of a state agency. Failure to do so undermines the stem cell agency's credibility and ability to do its vital work."

Simpson summarized the legislation:

"It puts in statute regulations CIRM itself developed governing access to drugs by the uninsured; it lowers the vote of the scientific working group necessary to recommend funding non-embryonic stem cell research from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority; and it asks the state's non-partisan Little Hoover Commission to study the governance structure of the agency."

Kuehl's aides have been working with CIRM staffers to deal with the agency's official objections. Earlier this week, Kuehl amended her measure to deal with CIRM concerns. But Klein's lobbying group says the bill is unacceptable in "any form."

We have asked CIRM and Kuehl's office if they have any comment on the posting by the Klein group. We have not received a response, but will carry their comments should they make any.

Klein's Group Says Kuehl is Ignorant or Mindless or Craven and Dumb

Using the influential national political blog, the "Daily Kos," the private lobbying group of the chairman of California's $3 billion stem cell agency today filed a sharp, personal attack on a Democratic state legislator who is seeking to ensure the affordability of stem cell therapies financed by taxpayers.

Americans for Cures, whose president is Robert Klein and who also serves as chairman of CIRM, wrote an item for Daily Kos which took on highly respected California state Sen. Sheila Kuehl(see photo), D-Santa Monica, co-author of SB 1565, the affordability legislation in question. The Daily Kos is one of the more widely read political blogs in the nation. According to its web counter, it had 899,000 page views today.

The Daily Kos piece, which did not identify the specific author of the article but only attributed it to Klein's group, said,

"Either Kuehl is ignorant on the science, or mindlessly buying into Republican and anti-cures messaging from the Catholic Church, or playing dumb in a craven attempt to get Republican votes to back her legacy as defender of the poor."

Kuehl heads the Senate Health Committee and has been a leader on a variety of issues, including universal health care. A graduate of the Harvard Law School, she has been cited by Capitol insiders as one of the more intelligent lawmakers in Sacramento.

Late last month, at a meeting chaired by Klein, CIRM directors formally opposed SB 1565 but indicated that they wanted to continue to work with Kuehl to resolve differences. Klein's lobbying group, however, was unbending. It referred to "legislative dirty tricks." It called Kuehl's legislation "a thinly veiled ploy to stop embryonic stem cell research in California." Klein's group said,

"California is an example of what we’re seeing all across America.  Anti-cures forces are stepping up state-based legislative dirty tricks to pass 'personhood' laws that would discourage or criminalize stem-cell research.  If this sounds like the pro-life strategy that successfully undercut federal support for reproductive rights, you’re connecting the dots.  Anti-cures legislation is popping up all over America right now, in anticipation of a loosening of restrictions on hESC in January 2009."

Klein's group said,

"We speak for advocates whom Kuehl claims to represent. Our focus is on cures, not legacy.  We understand that private capital will lead science to the marketplace."

Klein's group declared,

"SB 1565 should not be passed in any form."